For Bhattacharya, one of the biggest benefits of this alliance “is the opportunity to share our legacy and craftsmanship with a large new audience in new markets.” He says that – while the House of Anita Dongre is handling the marketing function and channel management of its EBO, “We are solely responsible for the craftsmanship, manufacturing and management of the other channels of sale other than House of Anita Dongre EBOs”.

Both brands are looking to leverage the strengths of the other. “Through this tie-up, we are able to fill in into the lifestyle apparel space with two leading apparel brands in the country while offering us an extensive retail footprint as far as the EBOs of AND & Global Desi are concerned,” says Bhattacharya. “On the other hand, House of Anita Dongre gets to make its fragrances available into the market through Ajmal’s repertoire of a larger distribution network”.

The co-brands will offer 28 different products across EDP and body mist categories. While the EDPs will retail for Rs1,800 for 100 ml and Rs1,200 for 50 ml, body mists are priced at Rs400 for 200 ml.

 Eye on India

Ajmal Perfumes, which had humble beginnings in Mumbai and later set up shop in Dubai, is now an international brand retailing through 240 EBOs, and is available in 45 countries. In India, Ajmal Perfumes is available at 3,000 points of sale across a mix of channels which comprise modern trade, e-commerce, general trade, MBOs and owned retail.

Elaborating on the perfume sales trends in India, Bhattacharya says the country “is seeing a trend of growing customer expectations for customisation and personalisation; it is getting tougher for brands to straddle the entire spectrum of prospects. Within that, extending a mass market brand to more premium segments will be even trickier. We at Ajmal have captured this well and fortunately have been successful in ensuring a smooth straddle from masstige to luxury by means of organic and inorganic expansion.”

It is expanding its perfume division in India via New Horizons of Ajmal (NHA), which was formed in 2018 as a subsidiary of Ajmal & Sons. Unlike its principals in India, NHA only focusses on packed perfumery products and not traditional products like attar.

One of the hardest decisions faced by a new start-up like the NHA is how to quickly broaden their product line-up in order to deepen market appeal, increase consumer attachment by offering a wider range of products, and widen the market opportunities, ruminates Bhattacharya. “One way to do this is through using private label and co-branded products to quickly expand the number of products offered. Both approaches provide the potential to offer proven, consumer-friendly products at a minimum cost to the business.”

The fragrance market in India is anticipated to reach Rs139.44 billion by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 15.93 per cent from its 2019 value of Rs66.58 billion, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. The largest market shares are held by Fogg, Nivea and Engage.

NHA is bullish about expansion in India. “Our aim is to cross 5,000 points of sale in the next 12 months,” says Bhattacharya. “Our strategy is to tap into points of sales expansion, but more importantly, we are now cutting across markets by increasing depth and width. Distribution in a FMCG method with the right profile of outlets is the key to expansion. We also see a multitude of opportunities across channels as we understand the product exceptionally well. In the next 3-5 years, we look forward to achieving 15-20 per cent share of the evolved premium perfume market. To be able to achieve the said market share, we aim at creating annualized $50 million top line against the annualized investments of $15-20 million in the next three to four years.” Ajmal in India contributes to about 10 per cent of the global sales volume, largely led out through traditional sales.

The pandemic has accelerated the future into the present, says Bhattacharya. “Shifts in distribution network, creation of accessible product lines, transforming fragrances from lifestyle to essentials category were always a part of a long-term strategy. We have moved manufacturing to India in order to save nearly 35 per cent on various import duties. This crisis offered us a unique chance to give the consumers exactly what they need – a width in the portfolio by increasing methods of fragrance delivery.” That might just be the way to reach the Indian consumer seeking to regain composure from the aftereffects of a punishing lockdown.